>From http://sri-ramana-maharshi.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-adams-again.html
Robert Adams dialogue in which he explained self-enquiry, with the added bonus of some extra stories about his experiences at Ramanasramam. * * * When I was eighteen years old, I arrived at Tiruvannamalai. In those days they didn't have jet planes. It was a propeller plane. I purchased flowers and a bag of fruit to bring to Ramana. I took the rickshaw to the ashram. It was about 8:30 a.m. I entered the hall and there was Ramana on his couch reading his mail. It was after breakfast. I brought the fruit and the flowers over and laid them on his feet. There was a guardrail in front of him to prevent fanatics from attacking him with love. And then I sat down in front of him. He looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back. I have been to many teachers, many saints, many sages. I was with Nisargadatta, Ananda Mayi Ma, Papa Ramdas, Neem Karoli Baba and many others, but never did I meet anyone who exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss as Ramana Maharshi. There were about thirty people in the room. He looked at me and asked me if I'd eaten breakfast. I said, `No'. He spoke some Tamil to the attendant and the attendant came back with two giant leaves, one with fruit and one with some porridge with pepper. After I had consumed the food, I just lay down on the floor. I was very tired. It was time for his usual walk. He had arthritis in the legs and could hardly walk at that time. After his attendants had helped him to get up, he walked out the door. When he was outside he said something to his attendants, and his attendants motioned for me to come. He guided me to a little shack that I was going to use while I stayed there. He came inside with me, and I bet you think we spoke about profound subjects. On the contrary, he was a natural man. He was the Self of the universe. He asked me how my trip was, where I was from, what made me come here. Then he said I should rest, so I lay down on the cot and he left. I was awakened about 5 o'clock. It was Ramana again. He came by himself and he brought me food. Can you imagine that? We spoke briefly; I ate and I slept. The next morning I went into the hall. After the morning chanting there was breakfast, and everybody sat around just watching Ramana as he went through his routine. He would go through the mail and read it out loud, talk to some of his devotees. I just observed everything. His composure never changed. Never did I see such compassion, such love. Then people started to come over to him, asking him questions. His replies were very succinct. They weren't like you read in a book. Apparently, what you read in a book is his reply to three or four people. They condense it all into one question and answer. But people usually asked a question or made a statement. If he agreed, he would nod or say, `Yes. That's it'. If he didn't, he would offer an explanation in maybe one or two sentences. There were foreigners at the ashram when I was there, Muslims, Catholic priests, people from all races and all nationalities. The devotees would sit around and say nothing, but the seekers and disciples would ask questions. After I had been there a week or so, two of his disciples were sort of jokingly arguing with him about something in Tamil. I asked the interpreter what they were talking about. He said, `Ramana's couch is covered with lice, and he refuses to let us kill them. They climb over his body and his legs and he doesn't care. He even feeds them. We want to exterminate all the bugs on the couch, but he won't let us.' So, the next day they tricked him. When he went outside for his morning walk, they sprayed his couch with DDT. When he came back, he smelled the couch. He smiled and jokingly said, `Someone has tricked me'. He never got angry, never got mad. I don't think he knew what the words meant. A couple of weeks later a German lady came to the ashram. Apparently, she had made a donation of some kind, but she wasn't happy for some reason. She was complaining to Ramana, but he just kept silent. I asked the interpreter, `What does she want?' The interpreter said, `She wants her donation back. She wants to go home, back to Germany.' So she started to argue. Everything was going on in front of Ramana. She started to argue with one of the managers of the ashram and Ramana just looked. Then Ramana said in English, `Give her back her donation and add fifty rupees to it,' which they did, and she left. This was his nature. He never saw anything wrong. He never took anyone out of his love. No matter what they did, who they were, where their ego was, he understood. He loved everyone just the same. Six months prior to his leaving his body, I went to Bangalore to see Papa Ramdas. While I was there, I was informed that he [Bhagavan] had left his body. I went back to Tiruvannamalai. The crowds had already started to come, thousands and thousands of people. So, I climbed the hill and went into one of the caves. I stayed there for five days. When I came down, the crowds had dispersed. Ramana had already been interred. I enquired of the devotee who saw him last, `What were the last words he spoke?' The devotee said, `While he was leaving his body a peacock flew on top of the hall and started screeching. Ramana remarked to his devotee, `Has anyone fed the peacock yet?' Those were the last words he spoke. Now, let's talk about you. Think of the problems you believe you have. Think of the nonsense that you go on with everyday. Think how furious you become, how you always want to stick up for your rights, as if you had any. The problem is, you think. If you would only stop thinking. You say, `How can I function if I stop thinking?' Very well, thank you! As a matter of fact you will function much better than you do now, for you will always be taken care of. The universe loves you. It will always supply you with your needs. Forget about other people, what they do, what they don't do. Do not listen to malicious gossip. Be yourself. Understand who you really are. You are the absolute reality, unconditioned consciousness. Work from that standpoint. Do not work from your problems. Do not get lost in meaningless gossip. Understand your true reality. Be yourself. What Ramana taught was not new. Ramana simply taught the Upanishads. `Who am I?' has been around since time immemorial. If a teacher always tells you he has something new to teach you, be careful, because there's nothing new under the sun. Ramana simply revised the `Who am I' philosophy and made it simple for people in the twentieth century. But what did he teach? He simply taught that you are not the body-mind principle. He simply taught that if you have a problem, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not go to psychiatrists, do not condemn yourself. Simply ask yourself, `To whom does this problem come?' And of course the answer will be, `The problem comes to me'. Hold onto the `me'. Follow the `me' to the source, the substratum of all existence. How do you do that? How do you hold onto `me'? How do you hold onto `I'? By simply asking yourself, `Who am I? What am I?' It's the same thing. Ask yourself again and again, `Who am I?' Forget about time. Forget about space. Forget everything. Keep yourself from thinking. When the thoughts come, ask yourself, `To whom comes the thoughts?' Again, `They come to me.' Hold onto the `me'. `I think these thoughts. Well then, Who am I? Who thinks these thoughts? Who am I?' An easier way to do this I have found is to simply say to yourself, `I- I, I-I,' and you will notice as you do this, the I-I goes deeper, deeper, deeper within you into your Heart centre, right to the source. For westerners I have found that saying `I-I' seems to be more helpful than `Who am I?' Again, do not look at time. Do not ask yourself, `When is something going to happen?' A devotee went to Ramana and said, `I've been with you for twenty-five years, doing "Who am I?" and nothing has happened yet,' so Ramana said, `Try it another twenty-five and see what happens'. Forget about time. Forget about when something is going to happen. Even if nothing happens in this life, you are ahead of the game, for, if you've been sincere, and if you've really been working on yourself, you will come back to an environment that is conducive for your realisation, and at that time you may have realisation when you're about twelve or thirteen years old, because you've earned it. But if you're like most people and go around minding everybody's business and saying, `I have no time to do this. I've tried it for two hours and it doesn't work,' then you will keep coming back again, and again, and again, going through all kinds of experiences, until one day, maybe 10,000 years from now you may actually get it and start working on yourself diligently; what you should be doing now. What do you do with yourself all day long? Think. From the moment you get out of bed, how does your day go? Do you think of God at all? Do you practise or do you think about your affairs and your body? Be honest with yourself. If you're not making any headway in spiritual life, it's because you're not putting anything into it. You have to realise that whatever you see in the world is only a reflection of yourself. If people are mean to you, if they abuse you, it is because you're seeing yourself as those people. In other words, you've got those qualities. Remember the story of Ramana and the German lady, the one he returned the donation to, plus some extra money? The following afternoon a devotee asked him, `Bhagavan, why did you do that?' and Ramana explained, `When she gave us a donation, to whom do you think she gave it? She gave it to herself, for there's only one Self. When she took it back, she took it away from herself. When she goes back to Germany, I'm sure she'll have financial problems until she learns that anything you give is only giving to yourself, for there's not two or three or four selves, there's only one Self.' This includes everything you do in your life, the way you look at another person. Whatever you see, you're simply seeing yourself. This is why the only thing I can do for you is to love you, because I love myself and you are myself. When I say `I love myself', I am not referring to Robert. When I use the word `Self' I am referring to infinity, to omnipresence. It includes everything in this universe. So when I love myself, I am obviously loving everyone and everything that exists. I also realise that everything that exists is a projection of my own mind, so I do not identify with the images. I identify with the source, with consciousness, with absolute reality, with ultimate oneness, with nirvana, with emptiness. While I'm talking to you, I realise I'm talking to myself because again there is only one Self. If you can only remember that in your dealings with others, whichever way you deal with anyone else, you're doing it to yourself. Can you see now why a person like Ramana could never hate anyone or be angry? It wasn't in his nature. How do you react to life? When a person displeases you, what do you do? Curse him or her, become angry or violent? How do you handle it? How do you react? Be honest with yourself. It's the only way. Start from where you are. No human being is perfect. We all make mistakes. Do not feel sorry for yourself, but start from where you are. Where are you? You are consciousness. This is your true nature. Learn to love everything. Learn to see only the good. Realise there's a reason for everything. If a person displeases you, simply look the other way and forget it. Learn to stop your mind from thinking. You do this by immediately catching yourself when you react to a condition, and enquiring within yourself, `Who is becoming angry? Who feels out of sorts?' `I do. "I".' Realise you're dealing with the personal `I', and that all the anger, all the frustration, all the karma, all the samskaras are all attached to that personal `I'. Consequently, when you get rid of the personal `I', everything else will go with it. So, don't try to solve your problems. Do not try to become a better person. Do not try to run away from your life. Simply see who it is who is running, who it is who needs to be a better person. Who has all these problems? `I', `I', always `I'. Hold onto that `I' with all of your might, but do not concentrate on the `I'. You concentrate on the source of it, which is consciousness, God. Everybody asks me, over and over again, `How do I hold onto the "I"?' By asking, `Who am I?' or just saying, `I-I, I-I, I-I.' Automatically you will notice the `I' going deeper, and deeper, and deeper and deeper within your Heart, and one day you will become free. But you're already free. Why not wake up right now? Why go through anything? Everybody is different. If this appears too difficult for you, if vichara appears hard, then your next best bet is to surrender completely to God. Surrender everything, your problems, your ego, your body, your mind, your work, your world. Say, `Here, God, take it, I want no more of this. I am yours. Do with me as you will. Thy will be done.' This means you no longer have anything to worry about. If you truly surrender, you will immediately become radiantly happy, for you have given your ego to God. And what's left is God. You have no body. You have no mind. You have no work. You have no problems. It has been your ego all the time fooling you, making you believe that something is wrong, and you've been playing hide and seek, trying to find God here, there and everywhere, when all the time God was within yourself as yourself. Begin to see the truth. Begin to stand up tall. Become fearless. Become strong. Leave the world alone. It'll take care of itself. There is a mysterious power that guides the world to its right destiny. It doesn't need any help from you. If you're meant to do certain work in the world, it will be done, but you have nothing to do with that. It doesn't mean that you have to leave your job, or go sit in a cave, or give up your life. Wherever you are, right now is where you're supposed to be. Just feel, `I am not the doer' and your work will go on. Do not be attached to your work. Do not react to any situation or any condition. Be yourself. Focus your attention on consciousness, and your body will go on doing whatever it came here to do. Everything is preordained. Even when I raise my finger like this, it is preordained. Do not be egotistical and believe that you have any power over everybody or anybody, or that you are the doer. It's a privilege to have been born on this earth, and the reason you have been born is to find your real Self. Go for it, do it, and become free. I don't know why I talk so much. It doesn't do you any good. I always want to sit in silence, but sometimes we have some new people and they do not understand the silence yet, so I keep on chatting. I wonder if I know what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter anyway. Any questions?
